Thu, 29 May 2008

Eleanor Gibson, Norwood, is quoted in the local free weekly (North Country This Week) as saying
about gasoline prices "Something needs to be done, an investigation into
this -- it's ridiculous."

Did she complain about low oil company profits when gasoline prices dropped?
Probably not. So why does she think she has the right to complain when
gasoline prices have gone up? Arguing for your own interests over those of
other people is called "selfish".

I always have to wonder quite what people think can be done when
they say "Something needs to be done"? Do they think that Congress can
repeal the law of supply and demand? One might as well try to repeal
the law of gravitation. There are very concrete causes for the increase
in gasoline prices. It comes down to having to pay more than anybody else
wants to pay.

I suspect that people think that Congress and the President run the
economy, and can turn prices up, or down, as they wish. They should be
careful what they wish for. Our current health care mess was caused by
wage and price controls during WWII. Wages were limited, so to attract the
best employees, employers bought them free health care. After the war was
over, employees took free health care for granted. Health care was still
affordable then, because most people paid for it out of pocket. Now that
very few people have to pay their own medical bills, they don't care how
much health care costs, so they don't care to economize, and the medical
industry is happy to oblige their spendthrift ways. Everybody complains
about how the insurance companies don't want to pay for anything. If people
were paying their own money, they wouldn't want to pay for
anything, and the medical industry would find itself needing to keep
the cost of health care low.